Welcome to the fourth module of the
Paraprofessional Training Series that Volusia
County Schools is providing for all ESE Paraprofessionals in the district.
This training will focus on De-escalation:
Strategies and Techniques. You may wish to take notes throughout this module as there will be a
ten question quiz at the end for you to
successfully demonstrate your understanding. If you have not already done so, please make
sure that you have completed the “Module 4:
Reflecting on Module 3: Understanding Students with Disabilities” survey.
So, what is de-escalation? Many of you have
participated in the Non-Violent Crisis Intervention, or NCI, training. This term should sound familiar
to you. De-escalation refers to the ability for you
to identify the level of behavior and intervene early in order to resolve the conflict before the
student’s behavior intensifies.
In this module, we will cover a number of topics when talking about de-escalation techniques in
the classroom or school environment. First and
foremost, we will discuss the importance of developing a rapport with your students by being
an empathic, active listener. By creating a
positive environment and providing positive reinforcement throughout the day, you will
increase positive interaction between you and the
students. You will gain a better understanding of integrated experience. That is the concept of
how your behavior affects student behavior and
vice versa. We will discuss the importance of identifying student behavior in order to respond
early and appropriately, by redirecting that
behavior or offering choices, before it escalates to a crisis situation. At the end of this module, you
will have an understanding of the 5 steps to limit
setting and the reasoning behind offering choices. So let’s get started with our first topic, rapport
building.
Building a rapport with your students will enable easier communication throughout the school
year. Communication between you and the
student is critical in building and maintaining a relationship. Rapport can be built by finding things
that you have in common. Let the student share
with you what their interests are and build upon those, you may even share similar interests.
When building a rapport, you want to give the
student eye contact, but not so much that they feel uncomfortable. When students need to talk,
take the time to be an empathic listener and this
will assist in creating open lines of communication between you and the student. You
want the student to be able to trust you and feel
comfortable to talk to you when there is a need. Take a moment to think about the student who
you have a good rapport with. Isn’t it a whole lot
easier to communicate with this student, and therefore de-escalate the behavior before it
spirals out of control?
Empathic listening goes hand in hand with building a good rapport with students. Empathic
listening is the active process to discern what a
person is saying. It is important to give the student your undivided attention by giving them
eye contact, nodding, or asking questions. In
order to acknowledge that you have heard the student, be sure to paraphrase what he or she
has said. You want the student to feel that you
have understood what they have shared. It is important to be non-judgmental when students
are sharing information with you. Concentrate on
what they are saying by getting rid of all distractions. By doing this, you are showing the
student that they are important and what they
have to say is important to you. When the student is talking, allow for silence for them to be
able to effectively reflect on their feelings. When
listening to students, you want to listen to the facts, but also listen to those feelings. You may
need to follow up with a teacher, a guidance
counselor, or an administrator if there is concern with what the student is sharing. Lastly, tell the
student you understand what they are saying. It
is important for you to indicate that you can see the situation through their eyes.
Positive Reinforcement is a technique used by
teachers and paraprofessionals to modify student behavior by reinforcing desired behaviors. When
the desired behavior is done by the student, a
reward known as a reinforcer is presented. Reinforcers are anything that will motivate a
student to perform and can include tangible
items, preferred activities, verbal praise or recognition. It is important to find what each
individual student is motivated by and what it is
that they will work for. Positive Reinforcement is a familiar enough term
in our classrooms and in our schools. It is a
method of behavior modification that you learned in Module 2: Positive Behavior Strategies, which
increases positive student behavior. As a
paraprofessional, you can catch the students being good or catch them doing something
positive. So often, students are called out on the
negative behavior, so this is why we continue to see those negative behaviors. By recognizing the
positive behaviors, students are more likely to
perform these behaviors. Behavior affects behavior; students do not act out
in a vacuum. Integrated experience is the concept
of how your behavior and attitude as a paraprofessional, has an impact on the behavior
and attitude of your students and vice versa.
When student behavior escalates, you can either de-escalate the situation or escalate the situation
by how you respond. There are some things to
consider when approaching a student who is showing signs of anxiety. The first being personal
space. By entering a student’s personal space,
there is an increased possibility that this will create more anxiety for the student. As you
approach the student, honor their personal
space, but also maintain open body posture. By maintaining open body posture, you are less
threatening to the student as you attempt to
alleviate their anxiety. Lastly, be aware of your paraverbal communication. It is not what you say,
but how you say it. Continue talking to the student
in a calm voice. Keep the volume of your voice appropriate for the situation. If the student is
raising their voice, try using a neutral, controlled
tone of voice. Sometimes this is enough to de- escalate the student. This would be a more
appropriate response versus raising your voice or
trying to talk over the student. Raising your voice will only escalate the student behavior.

It is important to be able to identify student behavior and what may be the possible trigger for
that behavior. If you have been through NCI
training, you are most likely familiar with the Crisis Development Model. The Crisis
Development Model identifies the behavior levels
that a student may go through and the corresponding staff approach. The value of
learning the four behavior levels and
corresponding staff approach helps us to intervene early and appropriately, helps us avoid
overreacting or underreacting, and helps us avert
a crisis. Today, we will focus on the first two levels of the
Crisis Development Model, anxiety and defensive
behaviors. Anxiety is any noticeable change or increase in behavior. Knowing the definition of
anxiety, what are some of the signs that you have
observed in your students? Some examples you may see are fidgeting, clenched fists, or changes
in breathing patterns or facial expressions.
There may be others, but these are just to name a few. Once you have identified that the student
is showing signs of anxiety, as a paraprofessional
you can intervene by providing support to that student.
What type of support you provide will look
different for each individual student. By knowing your students and having a good rapport with
them, you are going to have a better
understanding of what strategies will work when attempting to de-escalate them. Communicating
with students is an effective strategy to use when
trying to intervene early. Remember to use that calm tone of voice. As we discussed earlier in the
module, using a calm tone of voice and being an
empathic listener may be what the student needs to de-escalate.
Another effective strategy is to teach students to
take a break. Some students become angry or upset with teachers and/or peers and may need
to take a break. You can talk to students about
what they can do when they start to feels anxious or upset. They can ask to take a short break
away from the setting or situation until they feel
like they have calmed down enough to return. Another way to take a break from a situation is to
take the student for a walk outside to redirect the
behavior. Sometimes just getting some fresh air will de-escalate the student. Taking the student
out of the situation or environment is also a way
to eliminate the audience. This tends to de- escalate the behavior when the student no longer
has an audience to get attention from.
At times, students may continue to escalate to the next behavior level, which is the defensive
level. At this level students begin to lose
rationality. They become belligerent and begin challenging you as the authority figure. You may
hear statements such as, “you can’t make me do
that” or “you are not in charge of me!” At this level, as a paraprofessional, you need to take
control of the situation and set limits for this
student. Offer choices to the student, stating the positive choice first. Often when students are
presented with choices in their daily routine, their
behaviors will improve. Some examples may include allowing students to choose who they
work with on a project, discuss the timeline when
an assignment will be due, or choose what book they would like to read.
Another example of setting limits with students is
to use visual supports. These are concrete ways, using fewer words that allow students to
know and understand what is expected of them.
Some examples include: a first/then card, a choice board; an “I am working for” board, or a
visual timer. When student behavior starts to
escalate, it is beneficial to pair a visual with the verbal directive. Students are able to hear and
see the expectation.
Limit setting is a skill that can be learned and mastered over time. The following “Crisis
Prevention Institute” or better known as CPI, 5
step approach will assist in setting limits more effectively.
The first step is to explain exactly which behavior
is inappropriate. Do not assume that your students know which behavior is unacceptable.
You need to be specific about the inappropriate
behavior because what may not be appropriate at school, very well may be appropriate outside of
school. Secondly, explain why the behavior is
inappropriate. Students need to know why the behavior is not acceptable for school. The third
step is to provide reasonable choices and
consequences. State the positive choice first followed by the negative choice. Students do not
always hear everything that you say, so by stating
the positive first, they are more likely to hear that choice. The fourth step is to allow time for the
student to respond to the choices that they were
given. You don’t want the student to feel like the choices are an ultimatum. Lastly, enforce the
consequences. Limits are most effective when
you, as the paraprofessional, follow through with the consequences.
How many times have you heard “You can’t make
me do that?” This may be a way for students to get out of participating in a group activity or
completing a non-preferred activity. It may be a
good time to refer to the classroom rules that are posted and ask the student to read the rule that
they are not following. Ask the student what
positive behavior he or she will replace the negative behavior with. This is an effective
strategy because you are taking yourself out of
the situation, and the student is being reminded of the classroom rules that he or she is already
familiar with. Students will sometimes want to pull
you into a power struggle, and this could be for many different reasons. Maybe the math
assignment is too hard, or they just want to avoid
the non-preferred task they are being asked to complete. At this point you need to take control
before it escalates into a crisis situation.
This would be an appropriate time to redirect the student behavior using a calm voice and just a
few words. Do or say something to divert the
negative behavior and the anger from escalating. If the student is stating that the assignment is too
hard or there is too much to do, try cutting the
assignment into smaller “chunks”. If the assignment requires a large amount of time to be
spent on it, consider adding in breaks between
sections. Students may talk out in class or behave in inappropriate ways to get attention. In
this situation, change the subject of conversation,
focusing on something positive or take a walk outside. Sometimes just a change in the
environment is enough to calm a student down.
Once the student is ready, it is a good idea to offer choices for that student to get him or her
back on task.
This brings us to the end Module 4. Thank you
for participating in this training today. Please
remember the importance of developing a strong, meaningful rapport with your students to make it
easier for you to intervene early and appropriately
to de-escalate potentially crisis situations. We hope you have you gained some new knowledge
and strategies to deal with behavior in the
classroom or other challenging situations. Please reference this screen or the “Guide: How
to access the paraprofessional training series” for
directions to access the Module 4: De- escalation: Strategies and Techniques quiz.
Remember that an 80% is required to pass the
quiz and you have two attempts if needed to earn that score. See you next time!